Masters Degrees (Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (former Departments))

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (former Departments)) by browse.metadata.advisor "Schwella, Erwin"

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    A distance education management model for the Polytechnic of Namibia
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002-12) Keyter, Charles Antonie; Schwella, Erwin; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Public and Developmental Management .
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A major factor affecting higher education world wide and in particular in Namibia is a trend towards massification. Within Namibia this trend is due to an increase in population, an increased demand for skilled human resources and an increase in political power of the formerly disadvantaged communities. This resulted in a rising demand that the government of Namibia provide access to higher education for increasing numbers of young people. The Polytechnic of Namibia (PaN) has therefore opted for distance education as a means of providing flexible and cost-effective education to the people of Namibia. The term "distance education" is currently accepted internationally to describe a whole range of educational activities in which teaching and learning take place without the students and the educators being together for all, or even most of the time. This is made possible by the use of communication media in the form of print, broadcasts, audio and video recordings, telephones or computers and often a combination of several of these, usually in conjunction with occasional face-taface contact between students and educators or between fellow students. These common characteristics are the result of the convergence of various traditlena and a variety of political, economic, social, educational and technological developments in different countries at different times. Managing distance education is a complex undertaking. In addition, educators have so far only had limited experience of managing distance education, because it has such a short history. This situation is further complicated by the fact that such diverse media are used, each with its own peculiar characteristics and that the scale of operation is often larger than in conventional education institutions. For the purpose of this dissertation distance education institutions were divided into four types, namely, dedicated distance education institutions, departments of existing conventional education institutions, consortia and hybrids. Furthermore, the internal organisation and management issues related to the management and administration of distance education were explored and certain criteria were identified to develop a normative model of distance education management for a mixed or dual mode institution like the PaN. The current distance education management model at the PaN was evaluated in terms of the normative management model identified. An evaluation was undertaken to identify the shortcomings and to make certain recommendations to overcome these shortcomings. A new distance education management model was also proposed. The aim of this distance education management model is to ensure that a suitable division of labour is created to fulfill the required distance education activities, and to ensure that all distance education activities are properly co-ordinated within the PaN and that the Centre for Open and Lifelong learning (COll) which is responsible for the managing of all distance education .. activities at the PaN gets the support it needs to carry out its task. The writer believes that distance education will increasingly be an essential factor in making education accessible at all levels, in all forms, to all people at every stage of their life. New technology is increasingly making this possible. Due to the fact that distance education will become of vital importance in the twenty first century, distance education practitioners and planners need to be more flexible and open-minded about distance education's appropriate role and usage.